D Day Trivia Question...Paratroopers take note

[82Rigger]

In his reply to the D Day Memorial thread, Paco noted that the top of the Arch is done in the three white identifying stripes that were on all the troop carrier planes of Operation Overlord.

The trivia question is:

Who can tell me WHY the D Day troop carrier planes bore such identification?

[Packo]

I think that after all the friendly fire incidents that happened at Sicily...with many Paratroopers being killed, they tried to make the planes distinctive so the ships and other friendlies wouldn't shoot them down.

Right?

Pack

[Robert Ryan]

Paco you are probably right. I see no other reason to paint them that way, the planed in operation Market Garden were marked the same way.

[1CAVCCO15MED]

they were called "Invasion stripes".

[frisco-kid]

ANY plane WITHOUT stripes was to be considered enemy.

[82Rigger]

Yep! You guys are right!

A series of friendly fire incidents...but one tragedy in particular...led to the stripes.

But for those not familiar, let me briefly relate:


Prime Minister Winston Churchill's plan to "put pressure on the soft underbelly of Europe" targeted Sicily as the first step in an operation code-named HUSKY.

Operation HUSKY involved four separate airborne operations, two by the British and two by the 82nd Airborne.

The 101st Airborne had already tasted combat...but the 82nd was as yet "unblooded".

The first operation HUSKY I spearheaded this airborne invasion of Sicily. Led by Col. James M. "Slim Jim" Gavin, the 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment, and the 3rd Battalion of the 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment were organized into a Regimental Combat Team. Their first objective was to parachute into an area around Gela on the southern shore of Sicily to close off roads leading to the beaches and secure the drop zone for the next operation. They were also to take out Objective Y which was a series of 16 concrete "pillboxes" from which German gunners controlled movement on the nearby roads. Under a nearly full moon the paratroopers crossed over the Sicilian coast on schedule and jumped on their assigned drop zone on 9 July 1943 -- an event which British Prime Minister Winston Churchill termed, "not the beginning of the end, but the end of the beginning."

The second operation called HUSKY II involved the 1st and 2nd Battalions of the 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment, led by Colonel Reuben H. Tucker. On 11 July 1943 they loaded the C-47 aircraft and took off for Sicily from the dusty airstrip near Kairouan, Tunisia.

Near the Sicilian coast, however, a nervous Allied naval vessel suddenly fired upon the formation. Immediately, all other naval vessels and shore troops joined in, downing friendly aircraft and forcing planeloads of paratroopers to exit far from their intended drop zones in one of the greatest tragedies of World War II. Twenty-three of 144 C-47 troop carrier transports were shot down by friendly fire and a total of 318 82nd Airborne paratroopers were lost.

The reason white stripes were chosen for identification is that the pattern and number of stripes could be more quickly and easily changed if German aircraft tried to mimick the pattern to protect their planes.